After questioning the data and rigor of the initial trials of a candidate vaccine backed by former health minister Terawan Agus Putranto, the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) has faced increased political pressure to allow the controversial jab to enter mid-stage trials. Terawan began his efforts to develop the vaccine, called Nusantara, while he was in office last year. The Health Ministry was touted as a sponsor, alongside American biotechnology firm AIVITA Biomedical and Gresik-based pharmaceutical company Rama Emerald Multi Sukses in East Java. The candidate vaccine employs a unique mechanism. It is tailored to each recipient through the use of their own antigen-presenting dendritic cells. Such cells have been used in cancer therapies. “Since 2015, I have been personally developing dendritic cell-based vaccines at the Cell Cure Center of the Gatot Subroto Army Ho...